Simon Gaiger

SIMON GAIGER (B.1965) IS A SCULPTOR WHOSE WORK INCLUDES FURNITURE PIECES. HIS SEATS, TABLES AND VESSELS ARE MOSTLY MADE FROM WOOD AND STEEL — SCULPTURES, COMPLETED AND BROUGHT TO LIFE BY HUMAN INTERACTION.

MANY OF HIS WORKS ARE CARVED FROM LARGE GREENWOOD TIMBERS, THEIR SHAPES SUGGESTED BY THE FORMS AND ENERGY WITHIN THE RAW WOOD. OFTEN PIECES ARE ROUGHLY SHAPED AND LEFT TO DRY UNDERCOVER, READY TO BE RE-DISCOVERED AND RE-IMAGINED YEARS LATER.

TRADITIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL FORGING AND WELDING TECHNIQUES ARE A COMPONENT OF HIS WOODEN FURNITURE PIECES, AS WELL AS THE FOCUS OF HIS SCULPTURAL PRACTICE.

IN HIS STEEL SCULPTURES THERE IS A RAW TENSION OF OPPOSING FORCES; ELEMENTS STRAIN AND PULL AGAINST EACH OTHER OR BALANCE PRECIPITOUSLY. MANY OF THEM CAN BE RECONFIGURED TO MAKE DIFFERENT HORIZONS, CHANGING THE INTERPLAY OF SPACES WITHIN AND AROUND THEM AND INVITING PARTICIPATION FROM THE VIEWER. COLOUR IS USED TO UNIFY FORM AND ACCENTUATE THE PLAY OF LIGHT. TITLES, TOO, ARE RELEVANT — NOT ALWAYS IN THE LITERAL SENSE, BUT AS ANOTHER ASPECT OF THE CADENCE OF THE PIECE.

INFLUENCES FROM A CHILDHOOD IN SUDAN, UGANDA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC CAN BE FOUND IN HIS WORK, AS WELL AS KNOWLEDGE GATHERED FROM TIME SPENT WORKING AS A SHIPWRIGHT’S ASSISTANT AND SHEPHERD IN THE FALKLANDS, AND TRAINING IN LANDSCAPE CONSTRUCTION. THE ANCIENT AND POST-INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPES OF WALES, WHERE HE LIVES AND WORKS, ARE AN UNDERCURRENT IN HIS IMAGERY TOO. SIMON’S SCULPTURES ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY HUMAN AND LANDSCAPE, NARRATIVE AND ABSTRACT — THE ENERGY OF THEIR FORMS AND THE UNIVERSALITY OF THEIR THEMES GIVE THEM THEIR RESONANCE.

STUDIO: WALES, UK